Couldn't God have done it differently?

Fr. William Weedon over at ALPB Online, in the midst of a discussion on the Blessed Virgin Mary (a topic that can really rile up Lutherans):

One day in class at sem, some poor fellow raised his hand and asked Dr. Nagel: "But couldn't he have done it some other way?" The good dr. stopped dead in tracks and turned to the fellow and said: "He died the death for you. He bore the sins for you. He destroyed death for you. And YOU, ungrateful wretch, dare to ask: Couldn't he have done it some other way?" - so with His choice of Mary. We may NOT go behind that choice and ask if He couldn't have done it some other way without becoming ungrateful wretches ourselves. From before time began the Eternal Logos knew who would be His mother in time and that is what we can and may rejoice in. We're treading dangerous ground when we move off the foundation of what He has done to what He might have done, and only ungrateful wretches would do that. :-)